The 14th annual Satchmo Summerfest, which kicks off Thursday (July 31) evening in the French Quarter, will pay tribute to the late trumpeter Lionel Ferbos, who passed away on July 19. He was 103 years old when he died; Mr. Ferbos was one of few remaining artists to have experienced the earliest days of jazz.

A photo tribute to Ferbos, a regular feature of the festival, will appear on both Satchmo Summerfest outdoor stages on the grounds of the Old U.S. Mint (400 Esplanade Ave.) as well the indoor stage at the third-floor Old U.S. Mint Performance Hall. Trumpeter Leory Jones will pay tribute to Ferbos during his 6:45 p.m. set Friday (Aug. 1), on the Cornet Chop Suey stage. Lars Edegran and the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, which Ferbos joined in 1970, dedicate their own set to their late bandmate at noon Saturday (Aug. 2) on the Red Beans and Ricely Yours stage. Sunday (Aug. 3), the festival will close out with its annual Trumpet Tribute, honoring this year both the festival's namesake and Lionel Ferbos.

On Sunday (July 27) Mary Niall Mitchell, who holds the Midlo Chair in New Orleans Studies at the University of New Orleans, published "Why We Should Remember Lionel Ferbos for More than His Trumpet," an exploration of the musician's life, career and import beyond music on the History News Network site. Born in 1911, she noted, he was a living link to the birth of jazz, but also to the rich and complex Creole culture "that is still little understood outside of New Orleans," she wrote.

"Indeed, Lionel Ferbos was one of the last of a generation of New Orleans's Creoles of color who dedicated themselves to both the skilled trades and the arts. Since the French colonial period, free men of color had begun to fill the demand for skilled artisans in New Orleans, and by the mid-19th century they dominated vital urban trades such as masonry, plastering and metalwork. But many of them were also active in the arts, playing in local orchestras and participating in politically charged literary circles."

"Lionel Ferbos was only a generation removed from some of the most prominent Creoles of color in the 19th century," noted Mitchell. "Rodolphe Desdunes was still living when Ferbos was born, as was Homer Plessy."

Services and burial for Mr. Ferbos are scheduled for this coming weekend. Visitation is from 6 to 7 p.m. Friday (Aug. 1) at Charbonnet Labat Funeral Home (1615 St. Philip St.) followed by music and other tributes from 7 to 9 p.m, and again from 8 to 9 a.m. Saturday (Aug. 2), at Corpus Christi Epiphany Catholic Church (2022 St. Bernard Ave) followed by a memorial program that will include a eulogy, readings, music and other tributes.

Following the Mass, a second-line procession with the Treme Brass Band and the Black Men of Labor Social Aid and Pleasure Club will depart from the church and march several blocks throughout the neighborhood.